Sunday, May 20, 2012

Trash Pantry: Hummus with Avocado and Lime

Welcome to another edition of trash pantry. Earlier in the week, we had a very successful feast of tacos, upon tacos, upon tacos. But as the week goes on, I gazed with growing pity at the avocado and lime that did not get used in our happy gorging. As the two were perfectly ripe to the point of going bad, we were again challenged to create something delicious while only using ingredients on hand. Considering that we had just gone south of the border earlier in the week, and I didn't have any cilantro or red onion, I wasn't about to make guacamole. Instead, after searching the internet, I saw quite a few recipes for hummus that included the addition of avocado, particularly this one for guacamummus or hummamole. So based on this recipe with a few minor modifications, we were on our way to this nice little play on hummus.The ingredients that I used are:

A ragtag group of ingredients

1 can of chickpeas - rinsed

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 large cloves of elephant garlic - minced

1 shallot - diced

1 teaspoon cumin

2 tablespoons tahini

1 ripe avocado - cubed

1 lime - squeezed

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Everything together in a bowl

I added the listed ingredients into a large bowl in the order stated, mainly because I wanted the juice of the lime to hit the avocado and prevent the pretty green fruit from turning the color of coco puff soaked milk. After a quick mash with a potato masher, it was easy enough to dive in with an immersion blender, adding about a quarter cup of water to thin out the mixture and create a smooth hummus.

Creamy, tangy and smooth:a nice twist on hummus

This hummus was pretty darn great. The addition of avocado to your typical hummus seems to play along with the tahini paste to create a very buttery, rich and smoother texture. It's darn near creamy. But the addition of the lime also adds a sharper tang than you would find in a typical hummus. It's just something different, and a nice treat to have made based off of items that were a couple days from going bad. I think this might be a big hit to bring to a summer cookout. And there you go.

A perfect homemade tortilla chipto deliver hummus to taste buds

PS - If you're anything like us, when you make tacos, there are not only the few stray ingredients left over, but inevitably, you're going to have a few extra tortillas that are in danger of going moldy in ones fridge. In our case, there were about four flour tortillas left over. A quick brush on each side with olive oil, stack them up, slice them into 6 pies, spread in a single layer onto a baking sheet, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Into the oven (preheated) at 400 degrees. Eight minutes later, you have some freshly baked, delicious chips to enjoy with your hummus. This has been another edition of trash pantry.